The Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian reports that the Cape Girardeau School District is the latest to pick up on education's newest fad- laptops for every student:
Assistant superintendent for academic services Sherry Copeland said the 1:1 initiative "opens up the world to our students." Students will be able to work on homework and projects anytime, because they'll have access to information.
"There's so much instruction available on the Web; it just makes sense," Copeland said. "Kids now are so technologically advanced. ... The days of a teacher on a stage lecturing are over. ... The easiest way to engage children now is through technology."
3 comments:
I like most of what you write but I totally disagree on your stance of technology in schools. I'm happy school districts are moving towards and embracing technology. It is the 21st century after all.
Technology in the classroom is fine to use as one tool in the toolbox. The problem with Joplin is it's the ONLY tool at the high school. Apparently, even the federal government agrees with this assessment, because in Joplin's Race to the Top Technical Review, the district was downgraded for relying too heavily on technology when not all students have access to the Internet, and for not providing a variety of means for differentiating instruction. That we are in the 21st Century is not reason enough to throw out effective pedagogy for the sake of novelty and notoriety.
I'm sure that there are plenty of kids who don't have internet access at home, and that's worth looking into, but they still have internet access. I used to go to the library after school to do homework. They can do the same.
That said, it shouldn't be all that difficult to allow kids to download the things they need for homework onto their laptops if it's necessary. Change always takes some adjustment and there are things that need to be worked out.
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